Millar's ban ends

David Millar, who confessed to having used EPO to win his 2003 World Time Trial title in Hamilton, will be able to race again. On Friday, June 23, his two-year ban ended; and the tall Scot is ready to start anew.

"I've never done this much training in my life," Millar told the BBC. "I'm fitter than I've ever been. Before I used to just train enough to race. I'm hoping this will make me a better cyclist, but we won't know until competition starts." The 29 year-old, who won the Tour de France prologue in 2000, is of course especially keen on the first day of this year's Tour, the Strasbourg prologue, only one week away.

"I'm not going to the Tour just to finish," the Saunier Duval rider added. "I certainly want to win at least one stage. I have high expectations. I want to be in the world's top three cyclists."

Millar confessed to the French authorities about his use of performance-enhancing drug EPO in the summer of 2004, and even though he "hit rock bottom about one year ago", he decided to make a clean come-back. "I recognise the stupid mistakes and the regrets with it," the Scot said. "The cheating was because of laziness and stupidity. I can perform better without drugs anyway. It was actually my Scottish friends who helped me clean my act up."